The Vatican's Relations with Islam

"They are driving us out of the Middle East," declared Pope Francis on returning from Turkey.

"[I]t would be beautiful if all Islamic leaders, whether they are political, religious or academic leaders, would speak out clearly and condemn this because this would help the majority of Muslim people." — Pope Francis, counseling Turkey's president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

While this welcoming stance is in keeping with the fundamental beliefs of the Catholic faith, the Pope as the "Good Shepherd" has an obligation to protect his flock from the militants among the refugees.

Within the Catholic Church, there also exists a sub-dominant counter-melody that warns about Islamic hostility to the values of Judeo-Christian civilization.

At some point, the Catholic Church might raise the issue of persecution of Christian minorities in Muslim-majority countries at international fora such as the United Nations. The Church also could publicly ask Muslims of good will to express their solidarity with the persecuted and request international organizations to intervene to protect Christians.

Given the centuries of hostility between Christendom and dar-al-Islam (the World of Islam), the Vatican's caution may be understandable, but is ill-advised and no longer tenable.

Perhaps, in the light of the harm dhimmitude can do to both civic life and faith, the Catholic Church might re-assess its stance toward Islam from one of friendly engagement to cautionary disengagement. As radical jihadists continue to martyr Christians throughout the world, such a re-evaluation of Islam by the Vatican seems appropriate.

These hate crimes against Christians are occurring against a backdrop of fifteen centuries of hostile, relations between Christianity and Islam -- from the Islamic takeover of Persia, the great Christian Byzantine Empire in Turkey, North Africa, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, Greece and Southern Spain.

As Catholics comprise more than half of the globe's two billion Christians, a sober reassessment of Islam by Rome could be of great import and attract more people to Christianity when, as with Brexit, they see that the Church is aligned with a reality they see every day with their eyes.

A decision by the Vatican to distance itself from trying to please Muslims, many of whom would presumably only be pleased by converting Christians to Islam, might even evolve into a more realistic understanding of the Islamic faith by the Catholic hierarchy. If the Church, on the other hand, is hoping to convert Muslims to Christianity, then we have two proselytizing religions, each trying to convert the other, but by different means.

At some point, the Catholic Church might raise the issue of persecution of Christian minorities in Muslim majority countries at international fora such as the United Nations. The Church also could publicly ask Muslims of good will to express their solidarity with the persecuted and request international organizations to intervene to protect Christians.

For the moment, however, Pope Francis is maintaining his diplomatic and tolerant stance toward the Islamic world. In July 2016, for example, on the papal plane returning from a trip to Poland, the pontiff told reporters accompanying him back to Rome that he equated the violence of some Catholics in Italy who kill their wives or mothers-in-law as being akin to the violence exhibited by some Muslims. He said that most religions have small fundamentalist groups, and implied that the root cause of violence among Muslims is poverty: "Terrorism grows when there are no other options and when the center of the global economy is the god of money and not the person."

After this 2016 pastoral visit to Poland, he said, "I don't like to talk about Muslim violence. I must speak of Catholic violence if I speak of Islamic violence."

However, on returning from an earlier journey to Turkey at the end of November 2014, where he had met the Greek Orthodox Archbishop of Constantinople, Bartholomew I, Pope Francis condemned the violence of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). "They are driving us out of the Middle East," he said. During this visit to Turkey, the pope counseled Turkish President Erdogan, "it would be beautiful if all Islamic leaders, whether they are political, religious or academic leaders, would speak out clearly and condemn this because this would help the majority of Muslim people." The Pope's tone on this trip may have reflected concerns over the ISIS offensive, then underway against Iraqi Kurdistan, a region that his staff discouraged him from visiting because of security concerns.

The language coming closest to stating official Vatican policy toward Islam can be found in the November 24, 2013 Apostolic Exhortation "Evangelli Gaudium," (The Joy of the Gospel). In paragraph 252, the Pope writes:

"We must never forget that they (the Muslims) profess they hold the faith of Abraham and together with us they adore the one, merciful, God who will judge humanity on the last day."[1]

In the document's very next paragraph 253, Francis entreats Muslims to grant Christians who live in Islamic countries, the same freedom of worship that practitioners of Islam enjoy in Western countries.[2] However, this request is immediately followed by a statement which encourages a conciliatory, even unrealistic approach to Christian-Muslim relations:

"Faced with disconcerting episodes of violent fundamentalism, our respect for true followers of Islam should cause us to avoid hateful generalizations, for authentic Islam and the proper reading of the Koran, are opposed to every form of violence."[3]

Perhaps the pontiff thinks that these ingratiating statements will ultimately lead to a reciprocal Islamic initiative to reach out to Christian leaders. Maybe he believes that by soft-pedaling the problem of anti-Christian hatred fostered by jihadists, peace-loving Muslims will then ultimately assert themselves. Perhaps he hopes that these "good Muslims" will then pressure extremists to moderate their views. Nonetheless, Francis remains, for the moment, apparently aligned with those political leaders in the West, most of whom refuse to call out what everyone sees done every day in the name of Islam.

Vatican institutions also reflect the Holy Father's conciliatory approach to Islam. Holy See officials and media outlets focus on the need for Christians to embrace as brothers and sisters the tide of migrant refugees from the Muslim Near-East and North Africa. While this welcoming stance is in keeping with the fundamental beliefs of the Catholic faith, the Pope as the "Good Shepherd" has an obligation to protect his flock from the militants among the refugees. The large majority of the migrants are male, young, and unaccompanied. This imbalance is most likely a factor in the many examples of aggression across Europe by some refugees, as well a disturbing pattern of sexual outrages against non-Muslim females on the continent.

Pope Francis washes and kisses the feet of a group of refugees in Rome, in March 2016. (Image source: CatholicTV Network video screenshot)

Within the Catholic Church, there also exists a sub-dominant counter melody that warns about Islamic hostility to the values of Judeo-Christian civilization. For instance, the Guinean Cardinal Robert Sarah, who is Vatican Prefect for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, compares Islamic fundamentalism to Nazi-Fascism and Communism. He depicts the West's idolatry of atheistic secularism and the religious fanaticism of Islam as "twin apocalyptic beasts." Cardinal Sarah targets what he refers to as "Islam's pseudo-family values which legitimize polygamy, female subservience, sexual slavery, and child marriage." He is unequivocal about the limits of Christianity's relations with Islam. "With Islam there can be no theological dialogue because the essential foundations of the Christian faith are very different from those of the Muslims," he writes.[4] He bemoans the "very difficult, almost impossible relations with Muslims in the Sudan, Kenya, and Nigeria."[5]

While he praises Islamic-Christian relations in West Africa, Cardinal Sarah has little hope for Christianity's survivability in the Middle East. He closely identifies with the Syriac Catholic Bishop of Mosul, Iraq Basil Casmoussa, who describes the Iraqi Muslims' view of their Christian neighbors as "being troops hired or led by the West and thus considered as a parasitical body in the nation."[6]

While Cardinal Sarah may be the most outspoken of Africa's Cardinals about Islam, he is not alone. Some of the Catholic hierarchy in Africa are exposed on a daily basis to aggressive Islamic behavior in their home countries. Certainly, this is evident in religiously-divided states like Nigeria.

American Cardinal Raymond Burke is another prominent cleric who has urged a more sober approach to Islam. Burke bluntly lays out the concerns of a growing chorus of Christians: "I don't believe we (Muslims and Christians) worship the same God, because the god of Islam is a governor," he succinctly states. "Islam is Sharia and that law which comes from Allah, must dominate every man eventually," Burke adds -- and that "this law (Sharia) is not founded on love." Burke, criticizing Islam, claims that "the essential drive in Islam is to govern and control the world."

Another Church leader, the Archbishop of Paris Cardinal André Vingt-Trois, was even more blunt during a memorial Mass for Jacques Hamel, a Catholic priest knifed to death by ISIS militants on July 26, 2016 in a suburb of Rouen, France:

"Those who want to announce to us a god of death (Allah), a Moloch that would rejoice at the death of a man and promise paradise to those who kill while invoking him, these could not expect humanity to yield to their delusion."

Some prominent Catholic journalists, such as Sandro Magister and the Jesuit Islamologist, Father Khalil Samir, challenge the conciliatory language that Rome employs in its public dialogue with Islam. Magister and Father Samir underscore the central differences between the inaccessibility of Allah and the intimate Christian God of love. Samir also contrasts the all-will and all-power, one-dimensional concept of Islam's deity with the Trinitarian unity of Christianity's Godhead of "Lover-Beloved-Love."[7]

Ultimately, if the Vatican wants to protect its faithful from being subjected to the persecution so pervasively experienced by Christians, especially, in Muslim-majority countries, Church institutions might start publicly evaluating Islam by the actions of its professed believers. A critical mass of skeptics within the Vatican's Curia, College of Cardinals or among the Church's Bishops may ultimately decide openly to challenge the current posture of the Holy See regarding Islam.

Catholic theologians have a duty not to be naive. Why does Islam, which was spread by force, seem to be maintained by force? Why does the Koran elevate jihadi violence to high virtue? Why is the Koran so replete with verses filled with hatred? Why do Muslims denigrate democracy? Why doesn't the United Nations' Declaration of Human Rights satisfy the demands of Islamic law (sharia)? Why does Islam oppose freedom of conscience -- the right of man and woman to worship as they please?

The mere raising of these questions will invite a torrent of hostile commentary and accusations of Islamophobia.

Given the centuries of hostility between Christendom and dar-al-Islam (the World of Islam), the Vatican's caution may be understandable, but is ill-advised and no longer tenable.

Dr. Lawrence A. Franklin was the Iran Desk Officer for Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld. He also served on active duty with the U.S. Army and as a Colonel in the Air Force Reserve, where he was a Military Attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Israel.

[7] The Catholic explanation of the Trinity, like all we contemplate about God is insufficient from a creature's perspective. However, the most eloquent description and perhaps the explanation which approaches a true description of the Godhead is that of St. Augustine of Hippo (North Africa), who offers the analogy of Lover-Beloved-Love to the Father-Son-Holy Spirit. "On the Trinity" by St. Augustine.

Comment on this item

10 Reader Comments

C Alexander Fulghum • Feb 20, 2017 at 21:37

The hierarchy of Rome have, over the centuries, posited the deception that they are the only true church. One of their essential tenets to this lie is that "there is no salvation outside of Roman Catholicism's pale." Anyone who has studied Scripture knows that is a complete and utter lie.

The Roman Catholic hierarchy misrepresents God, His Son, Mary, the Gospel, and much more. They are antithetical to the whole of Scripture even to the point of calling Rome, "the eternal city." The ONLY eternal city, as recorded in Scripture is God's glory-Jerusalem which has existed over 1,000 years before Islam.

In keeping with their anti-Israel platform, they sent a spokesman named David Bartholdi pass along seven threats against Dean Yeshiva Mordechai Goldstein. (Jewish Activities Planned for Mount Zion, Arutz Sheva).Rome has been trying to defraud Israel of Mount Zion, the tomb of King David, for years and are relentless in their antagonism against God's Glory-Israel to get it.

A handover of Mount Zion to Rome is a back door way of Rome establishing an influential, power hungry presence in Israel as well as expanding the delusion that they are Christian at all. By sight, visitors would leave thinking of Rome as the authority over Christianity when, in fact, the very opposite is true.

The problem for the Israelis is that they can't make the distinction between what and who is or is not Christian.

To make matters worse, Karol Wojtyla, Joseph Ratzinger, and this current Marxist head-Jorge Bergoglio, have invited Islamic terrorists into the Vatican, blessed them, and kissed, and blessed the Unholy Qur'an on several occasions. This is the very Qur'an that reads, "God has no son" and calls for the annihilation of the Jews. Is that Christian?

The Roman Catholic hierarchy lie and deceive nations as well as their own congregant. Sad indeed.

There is nothing Christian about any of this.

PI

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Paul McFarlane • Feb 19, 2017 at 16:07

The pope is in denial. He has recently been quoted as saying that there is no such thing as Islamic terrorism!!!!

There can never be a a relationship of love and respect between Roman Catholicism (a theological cult) and Islam (a false religion). The Qur'an does not allow for any such relationship - all infidels (non-Muslims)are to be forcibly converted, or subdued and pay the Jizya, or die!

The Ten Rules of Umar state quite clearly that mosques and churches cannot co-exist. It is too late for pandering to followers of Islam. The pope should be calling it what it is - Christian persecution, using the most inhumane methods ever conceived; let's face it, they have had centuries of practice.

God help us all.

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Lee Frances • Feb 19, 2017 at 16:00

Anyone with a grain of understanding of Islam would know that the Pope is unbelievably naive. He visited Turkey and said the nicest things to Erdogan even though his government is taking over churches and converting them into mosques! He visited Abbas in The West Bank and slobbered over the man who is forcing out Christians. The numbers of Christians in the West Bank has dropped drastically those leaving going to Israel. Abbas stated in Cairo three years ago that in his new State there would not be one Jew or anyone not Muslim. And yet the Pope still has time to condemn Israel when in Mali, Nigeria, Somalia, Yemen, Pakistan, Egypt, Indonesia Christians are being crucified, tortured and slaughtered. Get real Pope!!

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Podargus • Feb 19, 2017 at 14:46

There is no prospect of a reconciliation between Christianity and Islam. They are polar opposites and that is fortunate.

Pope Frank and his ilk need a hefty boot up their backsides to teach them some sense because whatever brains they have are not located in their heads.

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The Guides Cavalry • Feb 19, 2017 at 12:03

I do not know what Koran the pope has or is reading, but it seems to be fundamentally different to the one I read. The Koran in my possession makes it quite clear that all other faiths must be destroyed eventually. In the meantime, whilst Muslims wait for the final day of judgement, it is permitted by Allah for Muslims to slaughter, enslave and reduce to dhimmitude Christians, Jews and others. It seems that the Pope has invented the Islam he would like to exist rather than the one that does exist.

It is also possible of course that he is following the official line laid down by the O.I.C, that Islam and Muslims must not be associated with terrorism in any commentary and that Islamic Jihad must not be connected to violence. The invented history of Islamic dedication to human rights, tolerance and peace, intellectual achievement and benificence to Europe must also be adhered to. I expect politicians to behave like this, but the Pope, no; he should know much better.

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Rex Tyrano • Feb 19, 2017 at 09:52

There is one thing Francis certainly has accomplished. He has clearly demonstrated that the doctrine of Papal Infallibility is baloney.

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FX MEANEY • Feb 19, 2017 at 09:36

Pope Francis is either lying, blind or ignorant. He says there is no such thing as Islamic terrorism. He says Islam's god is the same as the God of the Jews and the Christians, when even casual study demonstrates that can't be true. Whoever delivered a message to Mohammad was not the God of Abraham. Mohammad has succeeded thus far through violence and force in advancing his plan to take over the world and kill those who get in his way. Will the majority of humanity allow themselves to be bullied to submission and death? We need leaders who will rally the resistance by starting to tell the truth.

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JoAnn Leichliter • Feb 19, 2017 at 07:34

While Muslims are monotheists (as were the followers of Akhenaton, who worshipped Aton only), they can hardly be said to worship the "same" God as Christians, who are trinitarians (three Persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit in one God). Although Islam may think of us as "people of the Book," they nevertheless view Christians as infidels and idolators.

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Jeff Page • Feb 19, 2017 at 07:04

What's happening? Is the reality of what Islam represents actually being acknowledged rather than glorified? About time the Pope woke up, it's about time Christianity as a whole woke up. Christians believe in turning the other cheek, being able to use the power of love to soothe the savage beast etc, etc. Well, that's been tried and proved to be a failure. Those that welcomed Muslim immigrants into their countries are probably not so sure now. Even they must have seen and heard the reports of rape, robbery, murder, and riots by disgruntled Muslims who were expecting to be given homes food and everything else they desired. All courtesy of taxpayers of course. But because that isn't happening in all cases, some Muslims kick up a fuss and bring out the violence against the very people that opened their arms to them.

This turnabout by church leaders will give the media another excuse to promote their own agenda amid the usual cries of "Islamophobia or Racist".Instead of the media reporting the true facts about Muslim attacks on citizens across Europe, they lead the way in hiding the real facts of what is going on, they then accuse others when they themselves are singled out and accused of "fake news". In all of this the action of British people in voting for Brexit and US for Trump, is annoying the press. They just don't like their agenda being interfered with.

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Trevor Adams • Feb 19, 2017 at 06:34

The hierarchy of the catholic church (I refuse to use capitals) are "white washed sepulchers" and a "brood of vipers". They have never asked for forgiveness for the slaughter of Christians during their obscene rule and also never repented of the violence and hatred of the Jews. Read Dave Hunt's book, "A Woman Rides the Beast", it lays out very clearly the anti-Christ nature of the Vatican.

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